Labour Party

LONDON -- British voters pounded Tony Blair's Labour Party in local-election results tallied today, inflicting losses that could further weaken the prime minister's authority. The vote Thursday was widely seen as a referendum on Blair's troubled government. Labour lost 183 seats compared to the results of the last election, while the Conservatives gained 184. Labour lost control of 11 local councils and the Tories gained six.

WASHINGTON -- She had the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe. So said Francois Mitterrand, the last serious socialist to lead a major European nation, speaking of Margaret Thatcher, who helped bury socialism as a doctrine of governance. She had the smooth, cold surface of a porcelain figurine, but her decisiveness made her the most formidable woman in 20th-century politics, and England's most formidable woman since its greatest sovereign, Elizabeth I. The Argentine junta learned of her decisiveness when it seized the Falklands.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's governing Labour Party lags 10 points behind the opposition Conservatives in popular support, according to a poll released Tuesday. The ICM survey for The Guardian newspaper gave the Conservatives the support of 39 percent of respondents, with Labour at 29 percent and the third-party Liberal Democrats at 22 percent. It is the first time since 1987 that Labour has dipped below 30 percent support in an ICM poll. The once-untouchable Blair is battered by unpopular military commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

LONDON -- The chancellor of the exchequer has a dry, sly sense of humor. George Osborne, 40, says Britain escaped the sort of housing bubble and crash that staggered America because, whereas America recklessly expanded its housing stock, "We were saved by the fact that you can't build anything in this country. " He exaggerates, somewhat, Britain's regulatory impediments to dynamism, just as he exaggerated, somewhat, his prediction, when he became chancellor 15 months ago, that in six months he would be Britain's most unpopular man. His and Prime Minister David Cameron's wager is one that should interest Americans -- the bet that Britain can simultaneously shrink the state and stimulate the economy.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party suffered an embarrassment Friday, losing one stronghold parliamentary seat and narrowly holding on to another as many voters switched to an anti-war party. The results were unlikely to destabilize Blair. The Liberal Democrats, the only mainstream party in Britain to oppose the U.S.-led invasion, campaigned hard on an anti-war ticket in Birmingham and Leicester, cities in central England with large Muslim populations. Government ministers dismissed speculation that Blair, whose popularity has slumped since the war, would step down.

LONDON -- A shaky truce to end the bitter infighting in Tony Blair's governing Labour Party collapsed Friday, just a day after it was forged, when a former Cabinet official attacked the prime minister's likeliest successor. Many in the party had hoped Blair's reluctant announcement Thursday that he would resign within a year would quell the bitter infighting in the party. He and Treasury chief Gordon Brown -- widely expected to be the next prime minister -- appeared to have reached a private understanding about the hand-over of power.

LONDON -- Britain's Labour Party rebels dealt a blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday, forcing him to rely on votes from Conservatives to pass an education bill he said was central to his third-term agenda. Blair won the House of Commons vote 458-115, but his failure to consolidate support within his party could shake his hold on power.

LONDON -- Britain's governing Labour Party claimed victory Saturday for pushing through its anti-terrorism law after an acrimonious two-day debate in Parliament. The opposition said it had forced the government to make key changes to the legislation. Prime Minister Tony Blair won the support of Parliament for the Prevention of Terrorism Bill on Friday after one of the longest and most bitter standoffs in recent parliamentary history. The law allows terror suspects to be put under house arrest or curfew or electronically tagged without charge or trial.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party maintains a healthy lead over the opposition, six months before national elections widely expected in May, a poll released Saturday suggests. Labour was supported by 42 percent of respondents to the poll conducted for The Independent on Sunday newspaper, with 31 percent supporting the main opposition Conservative Party and 20 percent favoring the Liberal Democrats. The results are bad news for Conservative leader Michael Howard, who has failed to close the gap on Labour despite widespread voter dissatisfaction over Britain's participation in the Iraq war and occupation.

LONDON -- Britain moved closer to a showdown between friends and foes of Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday after remarks by Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer and louder battle cries by dissidents in the ruling Labour Party advocating Blair's departure. Brown, seen as Blair's heir-in-waiting, did not call directly for him to step down as leader of the Labour Party. But he urged a "stable and orderly transition" of power in the party, using language coined by Blair himself last year.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, who upended the old politics of liberalism and conservatism in Britain and pushed for an "ethical" foreign policy, said Thursday that he will step down June 27 after more than a decade in power. Blair, 54, one of Britain's longest-serving prime ministers, resurrected the Labour Party from the electoral backwaters in 1997 on a wave of national optimism, only to see it founder over an unpopular war in Iraq. His successor almost certainly will be Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's governing Labour Party lags 10 points behind the opposition Conservatives in popular support, according to a poll released Tuesday. The ICM survey for The Guardian newspaper gave the Conservatives the support of 39 percent of respondents, with Labour at 29 percent and the third-party Liberal Democrats at 22 percent. It is the first time since 1987 that Labour has dipped below 30 percent support in an ICM poll. The once-untouchable Blair is battered by unpopular military commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

LONDON -- A shaky truce to end the bitter infighting in Tony Blair's governing Labour Party collapsed Friday, just a day after it was forged, when a former Cabinet official attacked the prime minister's likeliest successor. Many in the party had hoped Blair's reluctant announcement Thursday that he would resign within a year would quell the bitter infighting in the party. He and Treasury chief Gordon Brown -- widely expected to be the next prime minister -- appeared to have reached a private understanding about the hand-over of power.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged Thursday to step down within the next 12 months in a move to defuse the largest revolt within his party since he took office nearly a decade ago. However, the Labour Party head refused to set a precise timetable for concluding his term. While some had demanded that he depart quickly, Blair forced challenger Gordon Brown to back down from a public confrontation or risk fatally damaging the party's prospects in the next elections. Admitting that the past week "has not been our finest hour," the prime minister was compelled to start the clock running on the waning months of his administration to head off the escalating rebellion in his party.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, moving to quell a rising revolt within his Labour Party, said Monday that he would not publicly set a timetable for stepping down because doing so would "paralyze" the government and "therefore damage the country." "It would not end this distraction but take it to a new level," Blair said.

LONDON -- Britain moved closer to a showdown between friends and foes of Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday after remarks by Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer and louder battle cries by dissidents in the ruling Labour Party advocating Blair's departure. Brown, seen as Blair's heir-in-waiting, did not call directly for him to step down as leader of the Labour Party. But he urged a "stable and orderly transition" of power in the party, using language coined by Blair himself last year.

Opposition party candidates will defeat Prime Minister Edward Seaga's U.S.-backed Jamaica Labour Party in provincial elections later this month, according to a poll by the Daily Gleaner. Sixty-two percent said they would vote for the People's National Party led by former Prime Minister Michael Manley while only 36 percent said they supported Seaga's Jamaica Labour Party, the poll said. The poll contradicted a survey report released last month by Seaga. His popularity has declined after a series of economic setacks made living conditions worse for many of the country's 2.3 million people.

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, moving to quell a rising revolt within his Labour Party, said Monday that he would not publicly set a timetable for stepping down because doing so would "paralyze" the government and "therefore damage the country." "It would not end this distraction but take it to a new level," Blair said.

LONDON -- British voters pounded Tony Blair's Labour Party in local-election results tallied today, inflicting losses that could further weaken the prime minister's authority. The vote Thursday was widely seen as a referendum on Blair's troubled government. Labour lost 183 seats compared to the results of the last election, while the Conservatives gained 184. Labour lost control of 11 local councils and the Tories gained six.

LONDON -- Britain's Labour Party rebels dealt a blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday, forcing him to rely on votes from Conservatives to pass an education bill he said was central to his third-term agenda. Blair won the House of Commons vote 458-115, but his failure to consolidate support within his party could shake his hold on power.